This week we feature the photography of Bryan Beard, who also happens to be the artist who drew our tree logo.

A long-time photographer of mushrooms, Beard captures the beauty of the ubiquitous but virtually unnoticed.

When I knew Beard in Korea, he would often go off the trail entranced by some curious thing, and I would have no idea what he was looking at.  Then he’d pull out his camera and crouch down next to some toadstool I’d completely failed to see.

To me, that seems like an apt metaphor for what we naturalists see (or aspire to see) in nature: the unrecognized, immanent verve available everywhere.

Beard comments on his art in the following brief exchange:

B. T. Newberg:  Where did you find these mushrooms?

Bryan Beard:  They’re everywhere I go! I love it. Those latest ones are from Wales.

BTN:  Why do you enjoy photographing mushrooms so much?

BB: I think they can be really beautiful. They’re little jewels hidden throughout the forests. The brightly colored ones are my favorite. And they don’t just pop out. I have to work to find them so I get exercise and find beautiful new places as an added benefit.

The artist

Bryan Beard, originally from Wisconsin, is an artist and photographer who currently teaches English in South Korea.  He is often found haunting hills and hollows, photographing mushrooms or biking mountain trails.  Working primarily in ink and oil, Beard is interested in natural forms and landscapes.  Inspired by immediate sensations in nature, Beard draws from his imagination.  “It’s just my habit to stare at the trees when I’m riding my bike, and then I’ll see an interesting branch or something…”  From there, forms emerge on their own from the creative depths.

Bryan Beard can be found online at GreeneBeard.com.

Check out Bryan’s other posts:

• Trees

Recent Work

A tropical rainforest ontology: In search of a non-reductive naturalism, by John Halstead

Gaia as the universe, by Áine Órga

Why is community the focus of HP?  by B. T. Newberg

Next Sunday

Ancient philosophy taught the way to live.  Has contemporary science lost that power?

Ancient philosophy meets Darwin: Can science offer a way of life?  by B. T. Newberg

Appearing Sunday, September 22nd, 2013